Opinion wanted Hardraw falls. 21/02/23.

[Guest 272]

Location

Europe

Camera type

Bridge camera

Camera sensor

1"

I used a preset from lightroom for this image, which I don't normally use in lightroom, but this one caught my eye and I quite like it. Do any of you use a preset for your photos?

 

[panos_adgr]

Very nice!
Personally I do not use any presets at all because I prefer to have my own style. But there are some great presets in photo softwares!

 

[Morexp57]

I don't use presets either.
In this image, I really like the "rusty" tone that is given to the rocks.
I don't like the sky and the birds above the waterfall, though. Is this also part of the preset?

 

[Andy Smith]

Nice image Phil, although I agree with Morexp57 that the sky looks unnatural somehow.
I use presets that I have created myself for certain shots but not always, I have presets that I created for different editing styles like exposure, tone, sharpness, brighter eyes, vignettes and slight colour grading. Lightroom is superb now as you can create presets using masks, save them for future and Lightroom AI adjusts the masks according to the new image.
I sometimes play around with other peoples presets or those built into Lightroom, adjusting to my taste and using them as a starting point if they come close to what I am feeling for the image at the time.
They can be very helpful and a time saver if needed when editing a batch of images.

 

[lightmuncher]

I agree with what has already been said, and I don't use presets either. I applaud your creativity and to experiment.

 

[Guest 272]

I don't use presets either.
In this image, I really like the "rusty" tone that is given to the rocks.
I don't like the sky and the birds above the waterfall, though. Is this also part of the preset?

No the sky is not part of the preset, I added that in photoshop but I agree with you! I wasn't overly keen on it either.

 

[Guest 272]

Nice image Phil, although I agree with Morexp57 that the sky looks unnatural somehow.
I use presets that I have created myself for certain shots but not always, I have presets that I created for different editing styles like exposure, tone, sharpness, brighter eyes, vignettes and slight colour grading. Lightroom is superb now as you can create presets using masks, save them for future and Lightroom AI adjusts the masks according to the new image.
I sometimes play around with other peoples presets or those built into Lightroom, adjusting to my taste and using them as a starting point if they come close to what I am feeling for the image at the time.
They can be very helpful and a time saver if needed when editing a batch of images.

Thanks for the comment, the sky was added using photoshop and I wasn't keen on it either, I'm not even sure why I added it! I like the idea of creating your own presets, I will have a look at making some too! Thanks for the idea!

 

[Guest 272]

This is the same fall but from a different angle, with the natural sky.

 

[Andy Smith]

I like the last shot Phil, although the whites are a little blown out. It is challenging to get this spot on, especially if the waterfall is in a dark area and the settings for the rocks or shadows blow out the highlights.
Try to expose for the highlights next time, (a technique called ETTR - Expose to the Right) and you can bring up the dark areas in Lightroom or photoshop. You can also look at taking two images of the same scene, with different exposure settings, 1 for the dark areas and 1 for the sky, these can then be blended together in photoshop or in Lightroom as 1x HDR image. Lightroom does a pretty good job at blending multiple exposures.

 

[Guest 272]

I like the last shot Phil, although the whites are a little blown out. It is challenging to get this spot on, especially if the waterfall is in a dark area and the settings for the rocks or shadows blow out the highlights.
Try to expose for the highlights next time, (a technique called ETTR - Expose to the Right) and you can bring up the dark areas in Lightroom or photoshop. You can also look at taking two images of the same scene, with different exposure settings, 1 for the dark areas and 1 for the sky, these can then be blended together in photoshop or in Lightroom as 1x HDR image. Lightroom does a pretty good job at blending multiple exposures.

Thanks Andy, I did actually increase the highlight of the shadows and I also toned down the white. I will take another look at the original and have another play with it. Thanks Andy.